(Translation for non-Queenslanders: A visit to the Royal National Association Exhibition, an annual city-country fair held in Brisbane. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors over its fortnight of operation. Sort of like a State Fair. Because Australians in general and Queenslanders in particular have to shorten names, it became “the Ekka.” In my family,Continue reading “A Visit to the Ekka (or the Show).”
Tag Archives: Leisure and Recreation
The Star of the Stage.
Brisbane gradually developed a theatre scene in the 1860s. Population growth spurred a desire to see entertainments beyond improving lectures at the School of Arts, travelling circuses and magic lantern shows. 1860s Brisbane played a small, but vital, part in the growth of a theatrical dynasty that would be celebrated throughout Australia and “home” inContinue reading “The Star of the Stage.”
A Day at the Races.
Brisbane Race Days. The Moreton Bay Races, 1846. The first edition of the Moreton Bay Courier contains the first-ever account of the local race day. Four years after the Settlement was opened to people other than soldiers and convicts, the local ‘gentry’ raced their horses at New Farm. “Boasting more than an average of respectability!”Continue reading “A Day at the Races.”
Moreton Bay and More 